


leading me back home

by swallowthewhale



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: only one week left!, season speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 19:23:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12260571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Does it count as creepy when the person you're creeping on is fully aware that you're there and could turn you into a popsicle in three seconds flat? Cisco hasn't come to a clear conclusion on that yet, but it hasn't stopped him from lurking in the back of the bar Caitlin works at.





	leading me back home

It takes three days, each about a week apart, for Caitlin to acknowledge his presence. She’s known he was there the whole time, Cisco knows, and that alone probably should have prevented him from showing up a second time, and a third. But he’s here anyway, surreptitiously watching her from behind his beer bottle.

She still manages to catch him off guard, though, when he gets distracted by a commotion at the door and she slides into the seat across from him. Her face is closed off, stony. “You should go,” she says.

Cisco flinches and scrambles for something biting to say. She beats him to it.

“You said you’d leave me alone,” she hisses.

Cisco bites back his automatic reply (I never said that). “We need your help.”

Caitlin leans back, her expression darkening. “What did Barry do this time?”

Cisco’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “You didn’t know? Barry’s been trapped in the Speed Force all summer. He’s gone.”

Her face doesn’t budge. “And you need my help getting him out.”

He half shrugs. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, but I need a bioengineer. And it definitely wouldn’t hurt to have a doctor around once he’s back.”

Caitlin studies him for a moment. “So you don’t really need me back, you need Barry back.”

Cisco gapes open-mouthed at her, floundering for something that she would believe.

She doesn’t wait, but slides off the stool. “Don’t come back,” she says, and walks away without looking back.

Cisco doesn’t go back to the bar. Instead he knocks on her apartment door at three in the morning, just an hour after the bar closes.

From the way she jerks the door open, Cisco can tell she knows it’s him. Well, at least she opened it.

“What do you want?” she snaps.

He swallows hard. “I can lose everything. My job, my friends, my brother, everything. But not you.” His voice cracks and he shoves his hands hard into his pockets. “Not you.”

Caitlin’s shoulders soften. “You said you’d let me go,” she says, much more gently.

Cisco ducks his head. “You said you’d come back.”

She wraps her arms around her waist, leaning into the doorframe and frowning a little. “I never said that.”

He almost grins at her, almost. “Not yet.”

She turns her face away. “Cisco.”

“I’m not asking for you to come back to Star Labs,” he says hurriedly. “But please don’t cut me out completely.” He takes a step back, and then another. “You know where to find me.”

Caitlin hesitates, just for a second, then takes two long steps forward and hugs him. He squeezes, his nose in her hair, and she lets herself cling before pulling away. “Bye, Cisco.”

He’s grinning outright now. “See you around, Cait.”

**Author's Note:**

> Aren't you excited for season 4?!?


End file.
